Bingo is a well-established game of chance. The basic concept is that each player has a selection of numbers, randomly selected from a prescribed set of numbers, for example 1 to 75. The player's numbers are provided on a "card" or ticket, which has the selected numbers arranged in a 5.times.5 square, for example. The "cards" can be actual printed cards or tickets, or can otherwise be provided in various reusable forms, e.g. electronically. Then, from the numbers 1-75 or other set, numbers are randomly selected. This is commonly achieved by some device which has some visual appeal and reinforces the concept of the numbers are derived randomly. For example, the set of numbers are marked on a corresponding set of balls of equal size and weight which are agitated by a jet of air in a large transparent sphere. The balls are allowed to escape one at a time, from the sphere and their numbers are read off in sequence. Such a device is known as a "blower".
Depending upon the game being played, players are expected to complete, for example, a full, straight line of five numbers in any direction, two lines, four corners, the entire periphery of the card, the whole card, etc. Within one game, different prizes can be awarded for completion of different lines, the whole card, etc.
The game of bingo is played at many different levels. It can be played purely recreationally. It is commonly played for relatively small prize amounts, which may be in the form of small gifts. More recently, interest in the game has grown and more importantly, charities have discovered the game as an effective way of raising funds. These games are run on a large scale, involving many players in a large hall. The prizes are typically substantial cash sums.
In such games, to ensure the games are uniformly and fairly run, it is common practice to use disposable paper tickets or cards, which are pre-printed. It is also common practice for experienced players to play a number of cards simultaneously in any one game, e.g. in the order of a dozen cards.
Depending upon the nature of the game and the supplier, the bingo cards are typically provided in sheets or strips containing a number of individual cards. These are commonly referred to generically as bingo paper. The individual strips can have a variety of strip lengths and depths. For example, a strip may have a length equivalent to eight cards and be three cards deep, for a total of 24 cards. To speed up play in large halls, the cards are sold either at one or more central fixed or mobile locations, and also by floor sellers. A floor seller is an individual on the floor with a supply of cards, for sale to customers. The floor sellers could also double as checkers of winning entries.
Since many experienced players will play a number of cards at once, it is common for a player to purchase all or part of a complete strip. The cash paid by the customers forms a basic pool of money for each game, from which is deducted the prize money and appropriate operating expenses, to leave a profit for the organization, e.g. a charity, on whose behalf the same is run. It will be appreciated that it is extremely important to maintain accurate and complete control of the supply of the bingo cards, where there are significant cash prizes.
It will be apparent that for these larger, fund-raising bingo games, there is then the immediate problem of controlling large quantities of bingo cards. At a minimum, it is necessary to maintain a control on these, to ensure proper accounting of funds received and prizes dispensed. Also, in view of the large sums involved, there are many opportunities for fraud. Lax control of bingo paper can give rise to many opportunities for fraud. For example, it is not unknown for people to acquire bingo cards from unauthorized sources, by theft or otherwise, and then to use these unauthorized cards at a bingo game, without having purchased them for the appropriate face value in the usual way. Alternatively, they may sell such cards to others, depriving the operator of revenue.
This problem has been recognized by others and the applicant is aware of at least one proposal for a computerized gaming management system. This relies upon hardware including cash registers, a computer, printer etc., and software including encrypted coding for communication between the different elements of the system. It is intended to provide a complete track on the flow of the paper cards. These are logged into the system. As the cards are sold, they are logged out. This enables a variety of accounting calculations to be made, giving figures such as internal sales for a particular game, prizes awarded, profit etc.
However, a key weakness in this known system is that it relies essentially on some form of manual entry of the cards, both to log them and to log them out. Thus, when boxes of cards are received from a printer, the number of cards received is entered (it is not known by the applicant to what extent individual serial numbers may or may not be entered both when logging in and when logging out). As he individual cards are sold, either individually or as portions of complete strips, in the course of play, these are again recorded on the system. Again, this requires manual entry. In either case, it will be appreciated that manual entry gives the possibility of errors being made in the number of cards entered or received, and the number of cards sold. In particular, at a busy bingo session, it will be readily appreciated that a busy seller of the cards can easily make a mistake in the number of cards sold. In any event, it requires the person selling the cards to make a manual entry in each case, which is time consuming and slows down the rate at which cards can be dispensed and sold. Further complications and opportunities for error or fraud occur when games are played using dual currencies, as often occurs when bingo halls are located close to national borders.